Governor Chen Qianfu entered the city from Nanxunmen. He was the governor of the Yellow and Huai provinces, the governor of Henan, and the official of the frontier. He had just returned from the embankment of the Yellow River and was sitting on the carriage tiredly.
As soon as you enter the city gate, you can hear the cries of hawkers along the street. As the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, Kaifeng's most prosperous days should be when Zhao Kuangyin of the Northern Song Dynasty established his capital here. The nine emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty made Tokyo famous for 167 years.
Infinite, with more than one million soldiers and civilians, is the most populous city in the world.
Because of the convenient canals and developed transportation, merchants traveling from north to south gathered in Tokyo. There were once more than 300 commercial houses in Tokyo and hundreds of thousands of Chinese and foreign merchants. The boundaries between cities and towns were abolished, and the commercial streets opened all night long.
Just at Nanxunmen, more than 10,000 pigs and tens of thousands of sheep are driven into the city every morning.
"The house is made of gold, the cage is jade, the carriages are like flowing water, and horses are like dragons." Chen Qianfu opened the curtain and looked at the street. Undoubtedly, although Kaifeng City today has recovered compared to the Chongzhen period, it is far inferior to Tokyo City in the Northern Song Dynasty.
It has also been buried under the city for a long time.
It is said that under the current Kaifeng City, eight Kaifeng cities are buried, one city on top of another.
Kaifeng is recovering from war and famine. The guild halls, various shops, and even street vendors along the street have restored some vitality to the city.
During the Wanli period, the population of Kaifeng reached 400,000. The entire city stretched for dozens of miles. The city was five feet high, with a circumference of 4,702 feet. It had five gates with three gates, a water gate, and a moat five feet wide.
, two feet deep.
It has eight lanes and five corners, sixty-nine streets and fifty-six lanes, forty-two alleys, five houses, and eighty-four places.
There is also the Zhou Prince's Mansion with a circumference of three miles, as well as the large and small princes' families, golden nails and red doors, and glazed palaces.
The five city gates of Kaifeng Prefecture are also very lively, with all kinds of businesses involved, and businesses on both sides go door to door.
During the Chongzhen period, Li Zicheng opened the closed city three times, fought for food and gold, and countless people starved to death.
During the third time, the city was besieged for six months, and then the Yellow River burst and Kaifeng was flooded. The water was more than ten feet deep and corpses floated like fish.
Only a few thousand people survived.
After this flood, Kaifeng was left in ruins and ruins.
After that, the Qing army was stationed in Tuzhai, and regiments were trained. Bandits and bandits roamed Henan. The soldiers passed by like a wash, and the thieves passed by like gobs.
Chen Qianfu was appointed as the governor and governor, assisting the imperial camp to recover Yingzhou and recapture Nanyang. He then recruited troops, surrounded and suppressed local villages and bandits, temporarily stabilized the province, helped the people, distributed land, and offered leniency and reduced sentences.
The once prosperous metropolis in the Central Plains, although the water receded, has become a fox den and a rat hole, with no government offices or people. Chen Qianfu began to rebuild Kaifeng Mansion. The imperial court allocated funds, plus local taxes and taxes, and donations from the gentry and the common people.
Work was used in exchange for relief, and workers were raised to repair the city through relief.
Chen Qianfu took the lead in donating his official salary and other family wealth to repair the moat, city walls, clean up the streets, rebuild the city gates, guard the city gatehouse, and then the official school, governor's Yamen, Buyi Yamen and other offices at all levels were renovated or rebuilt.
, inviting investment to reopen markets.
Up to now, Fuxiang County has 11,788 new recruits, who have been educated and educated, and are gradually improving.
The most important reason why Kaifeng can restore thousands of fireworks is that Chen Qianfu focused on the development of handicraft business and concentrated on attracting investment. The traditional industries of coal and ceramics were revived. He also made use of the convenience of water and land to make it a distribution center for goods.
Zhuxian Town, forty miles away from Kaifeng City, was one of the four major commercial towns in the world at the end of the Ming Dynasty. It was as famous as Jingdezhen, Foshan Town and Hankou Town. Now, with the efforts of Chen Qianfu, it has become a handicraft industry center in Henan with continuous workshops.
Relying on industrial and commercial taxes and government-run handicrafts, Chen Qianfu obtained valuable funds for rebuilding Henan. The money was used to repair cities, roads, and assist in repairing the Yellow River.
Kaifeng City's industry and commerce are now increasingly prosperous. There are seven or eight markets in the city, including the middle, east, and west, and more than 30 markets outside the city. There are five city gates, and the city is gradually regaining its popularity and bustling.
Zhuxian Town has become a gathering place for land, water, boats and vehicles. Along the Jialu River outside the south gate, there are many docks, which are five miles long. It is also the largest livestock trading market in Henan.
Compared with other prefectures and counties, Kaifeng undoubtedly took the lead in recovering due to the special characteristics of the provincial capital. This is what Chen Qianfu strongly insisted on, focusing on restoring the provincial capital first, developing industry and commerce, and then driving other cities to recover.
Seeing that his hard work was getting better little by little, Chen Qianfu was a little relieved on the carriage.
But there is still a lingering sadness between his brows.
Kaifeng was recovering, with fireworks and popularity, but there was still a sharp sword hanging over his head, making it difficult for him to feel at ease.
This sharp sword is the Yellow River.
The Yellow River is a suspended river in Kaifeng, several feet above the city of Kaifeng. Once its banks burst, water will flood the entire city, and everyone will have to feed the fish.
In recent years, Yang Wencong, the river governor appointed by the emperor, has also been very serious and responsible in repairing the river, but the focus is on managing the new river channel in Shandong first. Henan has been patching up the river, without the energy or funds to fully repair and strengthen it.
After all, we are still short of money.
But it won't work without major repairs. Hedao Yamen can make some money, but the key lies in Henan itself.
In June this year, the Yellow River almost burst in Zhangjiabao, Fuxiang County. Fortunately, river workers patrolled the river and discovered the embankment in time during the heavy rain. They struck the gong and reported it immediately. Chen Qianfu, who was guarding the river embankment at the time, led his people to quickly raise the height.
After a day and night of rescue operations, the river embankment finally avoided the tragedy of bursting and flooding the city.
But the repaired river embankment is full of dangers. Although the danger in June was finally overcome, if it is not overhauled this year, it may not be able to survive next year.
He went to see Yang Wencong several times and reported to the court several times. Yang Wencong could only squeeze out some money and give it to Henan. The court also gave some money, but there was still a gap.
Went back to the Yamen in a carriage.
The Governor's Yamen is still built at the location of the original Governor's Yamen, but the Governor's Yamen in Chongzhen was actually underground of the current Yamen.
Today, the gates and city walls of Kaifeng City are actually on top of the original Kaifeng City, which has long been silted underground.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Now in this new city, only five city gates have been repaired for the time being. Most of the city walls are only temporary earth walls, which can only be slowly changed into brick walls section by section.
The Governor's Yamen occupies a large area, but is rather simple.
"It is far from enough to repair the embankment by river workers and fortmen alone. The river governor's office, cabinet, and household department plus the remaining taxes in Henan have already provided a lot of money, but the people are still far from enough."
In the past, the imperial court would recruit people from prefectures and counties along the river to build rivers. Later, they would use silver as a substitute for labor, and the people would provide the silver, and the government would use the silver to recruit people to repair the river. However, there were many problems with the corruption of officials. Most of the silver paid by the people for labor was used by all levels.
After all the corruption, the people were forced to serve, which meant that they had to pay but could not be exempted from the service. The people had to work hard to repair the river for a long time.
When the Shao Tian Dynasty regained Henan, in the past few years, the city, roads and embankments were built mainly through work-for-relief. However, now that the place is becoming more stable, the work-for-relief method is no longer effective.
The only option is to still pay for workers, but before there was not enough money. Now that we have some money, there are new problems.
"Bu Tang, if we want to overhaul the Yellow River embankment in the Henan section, the existing money is not enough." A consultant from the Water Resources Department said bluntly.
The consultant from the tax department even said, "It's hard for a good woman to make a living without rice. Now we are recruiting river construction workers. They include three meals a day and an additional twenty cents a day. This is really too low. Basically no one takes the job."
In the past, people were provided with work-for-relief, including food in exchange for 20 cents a day or food. Naturally, the hungry victims were happy and were about to starve to death. They were willing to work even if they were responsible for just one meal.
But things are different now. Now everyone has settled down, divided their fields, or worked in workshops. Building rivers is a very tiring task. Who is willing to do it for twenty cents a day and three meals?
Nowadays, with the stability of the world, the emigration of the imperial court, and the rise of industry and commerce, wages are now becoming more and more expensive. In the past, long-term workers in Jiangnan were provided with food and accommodation, and then they were paid thirty taels of silver a year. Now in Jiangnan, food, accommodation and a few clothes are included.
Shoes and hats, and even meat during the busy farming season, the annual wages are at least ten silver dollars.
Many people who have been allocated land work on their own farming as a family, growing grain, mulberry, raising silkworms and spinning. They do some work during the off-farm time, not only to have food and clothing, but also to have some surplus.
"There is only so much money for the time being, but the river embankments cannot be repaired. If the Yellow River cannot withstand the breach during the flood season next year, how many prefectures and counties in Henan will be flooded by then? Kaifeng and Zhuxian have just launched thousands of fireworks.
I am afraid that the town will be flooded into a lake and sea again. What kind of losses will it cause? How many people will die, how many fertile fields will be washed into sand, and how many cities and houses will be buried in the mud?"
"Repairing the river is not a matter for the imperial government. It is also a matter of concern to all the people on both sides of the Yellow River. Now that the imperial court is trying to raise money, everyone must contribute."
"In this way, the wages for repairing the river can be raised a little more, fifty cents a day, plus three meals."
"Even fifty people may not be willing to come and build the river."
Chen Qianfu also knew it, but it was impossible for him to give him seventy-eight or even one hundred cents a day, and he couldn't come up with it.
Nowadays, there is not only a shortage of engineering funds to build the river, but also a shortage of labor.
"Rebuilding the river is everyone's business and concerns everyone's vital interests, so those with money will contribute money, others will provide people, and everyone will work together." Chen Qianfu said directly.
All the Henan officials in the Yamen frowned when they heard this, "Bu Tang, Your Majesty has already fixed the land tax for various places, Ding Yin, and repeatedly stated that there will be no more tax and apportionment. If we increase the tax, I'm afraid
When the time comes, the court will blame you and cannot afford it."
"The headquarters only knows that repairing the river is important now, and we can't afford to wait. It must be repaired, and we must seize the time to repair it. As for other things, we cannot be timid and afraid of taking responsibility. If we want to do something, we must not be afraid."
Facing today's Henan Province, he believes that the most critical thing is to repair the river. If the river is not repaired well, then all the efforts made now will be in vain at any time.
"The headquarters has been thinking about this matter these days, and I can't sleep at night with worry. I also know that there have been a lot of noises recently, which are even harsh and unpleasant, but why don't we stop doing things when there are harsh noises? We are local officials appointed by the emperor, not here to enjoy the blessings.
, but come to do practical things for the emperor and the people."
As he spoke, he took out a draft charter for river construction and showed it to the officials.
In order to ensure the smooth progress of the river construction, the river workers were divided according to the acres of land, and one river worker was produced for every 100 acres of land. The Henan government gave him the money to the river worker, which was calculated as fifty cents a day, one dollar and five silver dollars a month.
If the land is less than 100 acres, then how many dings will be calculated based on the number of acres in a village? For example, if a village has 1,000 acres of land, it will be 10 dings, but there are 100 households, and each family only has an average of 10 acres of land, then it will be
These hundreds of households are organized into several groups, each group has ten men, and they serve for example for half a month or a month at a time. If the number of fields among them is different, it can also be adjusted specifically.
Chen Qianfu's method is to ensure the smoothness of the river construction, so it is no longer based on the free market employment principle, but is forced to send workers. One person is sent to Baimu. The wages that should be paid will still be given, but this wage is not based on the market, but on the basis of the market.
Fifty cents a day.
The most important thing is that the gentry work together as one, just like the gentry paid grain as one in the past. This stall is also divided on an acre basis. It only depends on the land, not on status. Whether you are a gentry or a commoner, you have to share the land.
If you are a gentry and your family owns a thousand acres of land, then you can hire ten river workers. If you don’t want to go to the river yourself, then you can hire ten people. The government will still give each person fifty cents a day. Can you hire them yourself?
Think of ways to.
Smart officials have seen some problems with this method. In the past, everyone paid dingyin and divided it into acres of land. This dingyin included the labor silver for repairing the river. Now it is necessary to pay dingyin per mu.
The wages were paid, but the problem was that for every 100 acres, there were many people in need.
According to the market conditions, heavy work such as river construction is similar to prospecting, and the normal cost is 70 to 100 cents a day.
But Chen Qianfu doesn't care about this. After all, Henan has its own special characteristics. Building the Yellow River is not a small project. It requires many people, takes a long time, and costs a lot of money. If the wages are set high, he can't afford it. And if the market is really full
Even if you hire workers, you can’t hire them.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! That can only be done on a per-acre basis, and all the gentry and gentry can work together.
In this way, ordinary people can do river work by themselves, or even several households can take turns to do it. It will be harder and the impact will not be big. But for the landlords and gentry, especially the big landowners, it may have a big impact. Those with a lot of land will have to hire a lot of people, and the wages will be high.
If you can't get low-level employment, you'll definitely have to pay for it yourself.
"It has to be like this, otherwise how can we repair this river with so many people?"
"Also, to build the river, we need to pay per acre, and industry and commerce also have to pay." Pay according to the scale of workshops and shops. This is a real donation and tax increase. However, Chen Qianfu ignored the persuasion of his officials. Since he wanted to do a big thing
, then you have to gather your strength.
Paying money and serving at the same time is also an impossible solution.
"Things must be done, and there can be no delay. All yamen officials must be assigned tasks and included in the assessment. Anyone who does not do well will be dismissed directly from the headquarters."
"One more point I want to reiterate: whoever dares to make money here, deduct wages, or even embezzle food, materials, etc., this governor will show no mercy. If he finds out, the headquarters will raid his home, and even send his entire family to exile in the frontier.
Reclamation!"
Chen Qianfu was willing to take risks because he knew that as a governor, he had to do things, otherwise he would not be qualified and the emperor would not allow him to continue to sit in this position.
"One river worker is produced for every hundred acres, and the gentry and gentry all work as errands, and the businessmen and industrialists donate money to help repair it. Regardless of the gentry or the common people, they all have to work as errands, but the wages they should pay must not be less than a penny and cannot be deducted. Moreover, the gentry and the common people pay a small amount of silver per mu, and
If there is no river construction work, then no additional levy of dingyin will be allowed to repair the river."
"The quantity of tin silver in various places has been fixed for a long time, and the saints have decreed never to increase it."
Chen Qianfu reminded the officials that although he had some flaws in his work, in order to repair the river, the gentry and the common people went out to work to repair the river, and the wages were only less. However, if an official took a ride to collect money, the wages for river repair would be spread to the fields and the additional charges would be charged.
If you spend money all at once, that is absolutely not allowed and will definitely lead to big problems.
The problem of money can only be thought of from other aspects. Whether it is taxes, industrial and commercial taxes, or donations, we can find ways, but we must not collect money from the people again.
Now it is no longer possible to both collect Ding Yin and send river workers.
"The river worker's payment of fifty cents a day must be settled every ten days. The food on the river worker must be enough to satisfy the people three times a day, and one meal every day must be full of meat."
"Everyone, cheer up. Tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people will come to the river embankment. If one person doesn't handle it well, big trouble will easily happen, and you and I will all be doomed."
If the river is not repaired and it is not repaired well, they will be doomed if the Yellow River bursts its banks. If the river is repaired but not managed well and trouble occurs, they will be doomed too.
This matter is a great test of their ability, but now they can't delay it and can only bite the bullet and face the difficulty.
"Bu Tang, how will the court deal with the matter of canceling the autumn examination?" An official turned to ask about another difficult matter.
